Some documentaries are so flat-out amazingly good that they draw you
in and simply make you fascinated by the subject, regardless of
whether or not you had any knowledge or interest in the material
beforehand. Riding Giants is one of those. This film takes
viewers on an amazing trip through the history and culture of
big-wave surfing, and even if you never gave surfing a second thought
before, you'll be hooked as soon as you sit down to watch this film.

Riding Giants is brilliantly put together from the very
beginning. For one thing, it's quite clear that director Stacy
Peralta has a very clear idea of what the focus of Riding Giants
is, and every element of the film works together smoothly to that
end. As the title suggests, the central theme of the documentary is
not just surfing in general, but surfing the biggest waves: the giant
waves of places like Waimea Bay in Hawaii and Maverick's in northern
California, waves that were once thought to be unrideable.

But while riding the giant waves is at the heart of the film, Riding
Giants doesn't jump headlong into the topic. Instead, the film
follows a deftly crafted chronological structure, introducing us to
the origins and development of surfing culture: from its early
20th-century reinvention as a sport in Hawaii, to its position as a
counter-culture option for disaffected young people, to its sudden
boom in popularity and its growth to the present day. It becomes
clear that part of the development of surfing from the very beginning
has been the quest for new, exciting breaks to surf and ever-tougher
waves to ride. By the time we see surfers like Greg Noll taking on
true big-wave challenges, we understand the context, and appreciate
the daring (or foolhardiness) of the big-wave pioneers.

Riding Giants shifts its attention back and forth between the
surf scene in Hawaii and in California, giving viewers a chance to
see how the surfing culture grew and developed differently in each
location. Again, this context makes it all the more fascinating when
we learn about milestones like Jeff Clark's discovery of the unique
big-wave break at Maverick's in northern California, which he surfed
alone for fifteen years before it finally came to the attention of
the "big names" from Hawaii.

The film is as much about the individuals who take on the giant waves
as it is about the culture of big-wave surfing in general, and we get
to meet many of the big names of surfing and hear them tell in their
own words what it is like to continually push the envelope of what's
possible. Greg Noll is on one end of the spectrum, letting us see
what it was like to ride the waves in the 1950s, while Laird Hamilton
is at the other, using modern technology to take on big waves that
would be impossible to even approach in the traditional paddle-out
style. Many other surfers are interviewed as well, adding their
voices to provide a fascinating commentary on the development of the
sport. Riding Giants deftly provides a sense of context for
each of its interview subjects, so that when we hear from someone, we
know exactly who they are and what their contribution to the sport of
surfing has been.

There's an amazing amount of archival material here, ranging from
still photographs of early surfers on the beach, at home, or on the
waves, to home-video footage capturing informal moments of surfing
fun, and it's put to excellent use, giving us a window into the
surfer culture of decades past. But that's far from the only material
used in Riding Giants, as the documentary also works in clips
from surfer movies and many, many shots of fantastic surfing,
including both spectacular rides and disastrous wipe-outs.

Riding Giants has a lively, often playful style that invites
the viewer to relax and have a good time with the film. The
cinematography is highly energetic, using techniques like quick cuts
back and forth between still pictures (giving them a sense of
action), montages of short film segments of surfing action, and even
speeding up or slowing down the film at times to capture the sense of
busy surfers dashing toward the water, or hanging for an eternal
moment on the face of the wave.

But while Riding Giants is sometimes quite irreverent when
chronicling surfing's lighter moments, it slips effortlessly into a
more serious tone when the material warrants. There's no question
that the filmmakers, and the surfers who provide interviews, take the
giant waves very seriously, especially when the film discusses the
truly life-threatening waves of dangerous breaks like Maverick's.

Tying everything together is the fantastic visual and auditory
experience of Riding Giants. The soundtrack uses surf-themed
songs appropriate to the decade that's being presented, which gives
another layer to the enjoyment of the material, and the surfing
footage is simply amazing. I'm sure that surfers who watch this will
be even more impressed, since they'll understand the implications of
the size of these waves more fully, but even without knowing anything
about surfing to begin with, it's impossible to not be impressed by
the amazing footage here.

The
DVD

Video

Riding Giants is presented in anamorphic widescreen, at its
original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and if there were ever a documentary
that benefited from the scope of a widescreen presentation, it's this
one, with its impressive shots of gigantic waves crashing into the
shores. The film does an admirable job of balancing the different
states of wear and tear in its material, by the interesting technique
of artificially "aging" some of the modern interview
footage to have a similar grainy feel as
the film footage from the 1940s and 1950s. It's clear that the
playful style of the cinematography extends to the presentation of
the image, and the result is that the differences in the condition of
the footage feel like simple changes of visual pace rather than
"good" and "bad" image quality.

When it comes to recent film footage of the waves, when we no longer
have issues of wear and tear involved, there's no question that the
transfer quality is excellent. We get dazzling, vibrant colors, lots
of crisp detail, and a generally clean and impressive image. All
told, Riding Giants looks great.

Audio

The
Dolby 5.1 soundtrack handles all the demands of the film deftly. The
voices of the narrator and the interview subjects are always crisp
and clear, the background music sounds great without ever intruding
on the rest of the track, and the sound of the waves is captured with
all its deep bass roar. The very enjoyable audio experience of Riding
Giants is yet one more thing that makes this a great film.

Extras

Riding Giants boasts the "Special Edition" label and
earns it. First off, there are two audio commentaries. The first one,
with director Stacy Peralta and editor Paul Crowder, focuses on the
making of the film, while the second, with co-writer Sam George and
surfers Greg Noll, Jeff Clark, and Laird Hamilton, focuses on
recounting more details and anecdotes about surfing the big waves and
the history of the sport. They both offer interesting material for
fans of the film, and complement each other well without overlapping
in content.

A 27-minute documentary called "The Making of Riding Giants"
is reasonably interesting. It has somewhat of a promotional slant,
with liberal use of clips from the film, but it also presents some
interesting interviews with various people involved behind the scenes
in bringing Riding Giants to life. We also hear more from some of the
surfers profiled in the film. "Fuel TV's Blue Carpet Special"
is unabashedly promotional, as this 20-minute segment gives some
information about the film on the scene of the Sundance Film
Festival. There are some additional interviews tucked in here. Two
short promotional segments (for Milan Records and Quicksilver) are
also included.

The deleted scenes are certainly worth watching. There's fifteen
minutes of material here, in five separate scenes (with a play all
feature). One nice touch is that the scenes are prefaced with text
screens explaining the context of the scene and why it was cut from
the final film.

Finally, we get a set of previews for Riding Giants and other
films. The trailers for Ride the Wild Surf and Gidget Goes
Hawaiian are entertaining to watch since they're referenced in
the film itself; we also get trailers for Dogtown and Z-Boys,
The Fifth Element, The Forgotten, and Godzilla
Millenium.

Final
thoughts

I
thought for quite a while before deciding on the full five stars for
Riding Giants, but when it came down to it, that's what the
film deserves. It's a knockout documentary, one that gets everything
right, from pacing and structure to content and style. What's perhaps
most impressive is how it transcends its niche audience and makes the
subject of big-wave surfing both accessible and fascinating for
non-surfers as well as surfers. With its great video and audio
quality and nice set of special features, Riding Giants is my
what-a-pleasant-surprise addition to the DVD Talk Collector Series.